Robert Morris (June 8, 1823 – December 12, 1882) was one of the first African-American attorneys in the United States,[1] and was called "the first really successful colored lawyer in America.

Morris was active in black and abolitionist causes, notably filing and trying the first U.S. civil rights challenge to segregated public schools in the 1848 case of Roberts v. Boston.

Morris and Charles Sumner pressed the case, which is believed to be the first legal challenge to the "separate but equal" practice of segregation in America.

The U.S. Supreme Court later cited the case in support of its Plessy v. Ferguson ruling in 1896, which codified the "separate but equal" standard.

Morris worked with attorneys Samuel E. Sewall, Ellis Gray Loring, and Richard Henry Dana Jr. to defend Minkins.

Seeking to have Minkins released from custody, they filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus with the Supreme Judicial Court, which was refused by Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw.

Morris repeatedly petitioned the Massachusetts legislature on their behalf, but the Massasoit Guards were never officially recognized or supported by the state.

[13] Boston's African American community worked for educational opportunities as early as 1787, when Prince Hall petitioned for equal access to public schools to the legislature of Massachusetts.

[15] Morris was commissioned as a magistrate of Essex County, Massachusetts, by the governor, making him the second black lawyer to hold a judicial post.

Morris established connections with early Boston College leaders, including Father Robert J. Fulton, S.J.

In the summer of 1868, Morris traveled across Europe with his family and reminisced later about their experience riding in trains and staying in hotels without facing racial discrimination.